The forest did not move.
That was the first thing Hiroto noticed.
No rustling leaves.
No birds fleeing.
No insects crying in warning.
Just stillness, unnatural and suffocating.
Hiroto stood at the edge of the shrine grounds, every sense stretched tight as a bowstring. His shadow lay thin and elongated before him, angled toward the treeline like a pointing finger.
Something is there.
Goro shifted beside him, his casual posture gone. His hand rested lightly on his sword hilt, muscles coiled beneath battered armor.
"You feel it too, huh?" Goro murmured.
Hiroto nodded. "It's… watching. Not moving. Like it wants us to notice."
"That's because it does," Tsukiyo said.
She stood behind them, her presence steady, luminous but restrained. The silver markings along her sleeves pulsed faintly, as if responding to an unseen tide.
"A scout," Hiroto whispered.
"Yes," Tsukiyo replied. "But not a soldier. Not yet."
Goro spat to the side. "So what kind of ugly are we dealing with?"
Tsukiyo's gaze sharpened. "A Shadow Seer."
Hiroto frowned. "What does that mean?"
"It means," Goro said grimly, "whatever it is, it's not here to fight. It's here to remember you."
A chill crawled up Hiroto's spine.
"To mark you," Tsukiyo added. "To carry your presence back to its master."
Hiroto clenched his fists. "Then we destroy it."
"No," Tsukiyo said immediately.
Hiroto turned sharply. "What?!"
"If you attack recklessly, you will reveal too much," she said. "The Seer records reactions, power levels, emotional states. If you unleash your shadow fully, the Black Daimyo will know exactly what you are."
Goro nodded. "And then he won't send scouts next time. He'll send executioners."
Hiroto swallowed. "Then what do we do?"
Tsukiyo met his gaze. "You confront it, without killing it."
"That sounds worse," Goro muttered.
Tsukiyo ignored him. "This is your test of restraint. You must force it to retreat without revealing the true depth of your power."
Hiroto felt his chest tighten. "And if I fail?"
Tsukiyo's voice softened. "Then the path ahead becomes much darker."
Silence fell again.
The forest suddenly shifted.
A single step.
Then another.
A figure emerged between the trees.
At first glance, it looked human thin, tall, cloaked in gray robes that blended into the fog. Its face was hidden behind a smooth wooden mask carved with a single eye at its center.
That eye opened.
Not physically.
But spiritually.
Hiroto felt it.
A pressure pressed against his mind, like fingers probing his thoughts. Images flickered at the edges of his vision fire, screaming, shadow blades, blood.
He staggered.
Goro caught his shoulder instantly. "Hey. Stay with me."
Tsukiyo raised her hand slightly. "Do not resist fully. Let it see something."
Hiroto gritted his teeth. "It's in my head."
"Yes," she said calmly. "But it can only see what you allow."
The Shadow Seer tilted its head.
Then it spoke.
Not with sound.
But with thought.
"Child of shadow…"
Hiroto's breath hitched.
"Your blood stirs old echoes."
Anger flared but Hiroto remembered Tsukiyo's words.
Restraint.
He forced the emotion down, burying it beneath calm.
"I don't know what you're talking about," he said aloud.
The Seer's mask did not change but the pressure increased.
"You lie poorly."
Hiroto's shadow twitched.
Goro shifted his stance. "Kid"
"I've got this," Hiroto said quietly.
He took a step forward.
The Seer did not move.
"The Vanished Gate dreams again," it whispered.
"And you are its key."
Hiroto's heart thundered.
He felt the shadow surge eager, furious, hungry.
No.
He did not summon a blade.
Instead, he did something different.
He reached inward.
Not for fear.
Not for rage.
For control.
The shadow pooled around his feet not rising, not lashing out, simply present.
Tsukiyo's eyes widened slightly.
Goro muttered, "Huh."
Hiroto met the Seer's gaze.
"I'm not your enemy," he said steadily. "And I'm not your weapon."
The Seer's presence wavered.
"All Shadowforge become weapons," it replied.
"Or corpses."
Hiroto exhaled slowly.
"Then watch closely," he said. "And tell your master this."
He lifted his hand, not to attack.
The shadow rippled outward like a wave on water.
It did not strike.
It did not cut.
It pushed.
The forest bent.
Trees groaned as their shadows twisted unnaturally, converging on the Seer from all sides pinning it in place without touching its physical body.
The Seer stiffened.
Its single eye flared brightly.
"This is… inefficient control."
Hiroto's voice shook but he held firm. "And it's enough."
The pressure in his mind snapped.
The Seer stumbled backward, its form flickering.
Goro let out a low whistle. "Kid just told it to leave… with shadows."
Tsukiyo's lips curved slightly. "Impressive."
The Seer retreated several steps, its presence unraveling like mist in sunlight.
But before it vanished completely, it spoke one last time.
"You delay the inevitable."
"The Black Daimyo will come."
"And when he does, your restraint will break."
Then it was gone.
The forest exhaled.
Birds cried out. Leaves rustled. Life returned.
Hiroto collapsed to one knee, gasping.
Goro was beside him instantly. "Easy."
Hiroto laughed weakly. "Did… did I pass?"
Tsukiyo approached slowly, her gaze intense.
"Yes," she said. "You did more than pass."
She knelt in front of him.
"You used the Shadowforge without forging a weapon," she said. "That is advanced control. Even many of the Ten Clans struggled with it."
Hiroto blinked. "I didn't even know I could do that."
"That," Tsukiyo said gently, "is what frightens me."
Goro helped Hiroto stand. "Well, scary or not, you scared the hell out of that thing. I'd call it a win."
Tsukiyo straightened. "But the Seer escaped."
Hiroto's expression hardened. "So the Black Daimyo knows."
"Yes," she said. "But not everything."
She met his gaze.
"And now he will be cautious."
Goro snorted. "Which is somehow worse."
Tsukiyo turned toward the mountains. "We cannot remain here any longer."
Hiroto's heart sank. "Already?"
"The shrine has done its part," she said. "But now you must move. Toward people. Toward conflict."
"Toward answers," Goro added.
Hiroto glanced back at the hall at Yui, peeking out nervously from behind a pillar.
"Where do we go?" Hiroto asked.
Tsukiyo's silver eyes reflected the rising sun.
"To the city of Kanezawa," she said. "Where clans gather. Where spies hide. And where the Black Daimyo's influence reaches deep."
Goro cracked his neck. "Ah. Political hell. My favorite."
Hiroto took a deep breath.
The path ahead was no longer about running.
It was about stepping into the world that wanted him dead and surviving it.
Tsukiyo's voice softened. "From this point on, Hiroto… you will no longer be an unknown."
His shadow stretched beside him steady, controlled.
He nodded.
"Then let them see me."